Yambio fire, 4 December 2017 Yambio, Wulu, Ibba
The fire started on 4 December 2017 in Yambio, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 6 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 6,035 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.
It is the 274th largest in Western Equatoria since 2016 (of 361 with a page). Number 136 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.
- Burnt area
- 6,035ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 6days
- 4 Dec 2017 – 9 Dec 2017
- Municipalities hit
- 3
- counties
- Started on
- 4 Dec
- 2017
- Heat detections
- 166
- in a single hotspot: 136 MW
- Danger at start
- 23
- High · FWI index
- Energy released
- 1.9GW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 4 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
35% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,137 ha in 2016.
- 702 ha Ibba fire, December 2016 5,623 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 670 ha Yambio fire, December 2016 135,559 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
- 51 ha Wulu fire, December 2016 61,053 ha in total; the hectares shown are those it shares with this fire
What happened to each town
-
Yambio where it started4,838 ha reached on 4 Dec0.6 %
-
784 ha reached on 5 Dec0.1 %
-
457 ha reached on 8 Dec0.0 %
Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.
The weather day by day
ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)
| Day | High | Min. humidity | Peak gust | Rain | Danger (FWI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Dec | 34.9 °C | 25 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 5 Dec | 35.1 °C | 26 % | 21 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 22 |
| 6 Dec | 35.7 °C | 23 % | 17 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 23 |
| 7 Dec | 34.4 °C | 24 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 25 |
| 8 Dec | 34.7 °C | 21 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 9 Dec | 34.8 °C | 22 % | 34 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 30 |
| 10 Dec after | 35.8 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 11 Dec after | 35.6 °C | 21 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 29 |
| 12 Dec after | 35.9 °C | 20 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 31 |
| 13 Dec after | 36.4 °C | 19 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 32 |
| 14 Dec after | 36.8 °C | 16 % | 26 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 34 |
| 15 Dec after | 35.5 °C | 18 % | 22 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 35 |
| 16 Dec after | 35.0 °C | 19 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 17 Dec after | 35.8 °C | 19 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 18 Dec after | 35.6 °C | 20 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | High 36 |
| 19 Dec after | 35.3 °C | 22 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 39 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.
Detections table · 166Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 135,559 haYambio6 December 2016 · 31 days · 10 km away
- 61,053 haWulu12 December 2016 · 13 days · 25 km away
- 62,632 haYambio2 January 2026 · 16 days · 34 km away
- 69,706 haYambio13 December 2018 · 26 days · 35 km away
- 89,622 haNzara4 January 2024 · 24 days · 36 km away
- 72,650 haIbba25 December 2025 · 26 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Yambio fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 4 December 2017 and 9 December 2017: 6 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
- How much area did it burn?
- The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 6,035 hectares (60.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire entered 3 municipalities: Yambio (4,838 ha, 0.6 %); Wulu (784 ha, 0.1 %); Ibba (457 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 35.7 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 34 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 30, class High.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South Sudan (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.
Where to verify it
A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.
Satellite cross-check
Does something look wrong on this page?
This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.
Report an error
Where this data comes from
The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.